Patience paid off for shopper John Allan, who waited almost 24 hours to bag a bargain sofa.

Mr Allan, of Billingham, was first in the queue at Barker and Stonehouse's Middlesbrough store on Boxing Day.

The 60-year-old had in his sights a brown leather suite, which was reduced from £2,520 to just £399 - so he arrived at the store at 1.30pm on Christmas Day.

He said: "It was well worth the wait for the huge saving we've made. Barker and Stonehouse suites are good quality, we could have gone somewhere else for what seems like a bargain but it wouldn't have lasted us as long. And my wife got what she wanted for Christmas so she's happy."

And it wasn't the first time John had queued to snap up a bargain in the store's sale. He said: "Our previous suite was from Barker and Stonehouse around ten years ago, and we queued from around 4pm on Christmas Day then and got the last suite.

"Lots of people were queueing at the same time as us then, so we thought we'd get down even earlier this time!"

He added: "My wife and I waited in the car, we brought sandwiches and a flask of coffee. I do a lot of fishing so my thermals came in handy."

And after snapping up his bargain, he added: "I just want to go home and get some sleep now."

Managing director James Barker said: "Our winter sale always attracts huge attention because people know they will get excellent quality furniture. I hope the Allans enjoy their suite for many more years to come."